AT&T introducing monthly anti-malware subscription for smartphones

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Believe it or not, your carrier doesn’t make that much money when you buy a phone. All the profit comes from the monthly fees, which lead to all those little $2-5 add-ons the carriers are always pushing. AT&T is apparently planning to roll out yet another monthly subscription service to catch malware on smartphones. You can bet the sales reps in the store will soon be armed with plenty of scary statistics to get users to subscribe.

Of course, malware is a concern on Android in a general sort of way. McAfee maintains a database containing thousands of malware signatures for Android devices. Some of these are as simple as malicious apps that steal data, or as severe as exploits that can allow remote access to the phone. This situation has led to a number of mobile antivirus apps becoming popular on Android.

AT&T’s Mobile Security product will offer the ability to scan apps as they are installed, but it will also monitor data packets on the network side to look for evidence of malicious activity. This second part is the unique aspect of AT&T’s approach. Security apps in the Play Store only scan data locally on the device. It’s not clear that AT&T will find more malware this way, but it’s sure to put businesses at ease. For this reason, AT&T is targeting Mobile Security to business accounts first. The company plans to make this service available to consumers next year.

Google maintains fairly tight control over its Play Store ecosystem. It implemented proactive malware scanning of apps earlier this year, and malicious apps are usually pulled shortly after being posted. The overwhelming majority of Android malware and viruses are circulating around third-party app stores in Asia.

Plenty of desktop software companies have done well selling antivirus to consumers, and I wouldn’t expect mobile to be any different. Other carriers will probably follow AT&T’s lead. It’s not clear how much AT&T will charge consumers for this service.